During a recent trip to Hawaii, my wife and I set ourselves the goal of eating ALL the fishes. We love seafood. Well, we love GOOD seafood. We didn't manage to accomplish this goal, but we sure gave it our best shot.
Heck, when we've gone to another Sushi Train here in Melbourne we've regularly built towers of plates taller than your average Melbourne skyscraper (if seen from quite far away...) - so when we heard that there was a new spot opening in Emporium, we were very much looking forward to giving it a go.
And so we did.
And we won't be back.
Maybe we're spoiled by the Really Good Things in life, and we should have adjusted our expectations for Tetsujin to "meh" and been happy with that - but between the location, other reviews, and overall high hopes...we were really, really disappointed.
The fixed price for plates is great for those on a specific budget. No having to convert colour to dollar and figure out if you've just spent your mortgage on a sliver of salmon here - but the economics of such a business decision mean that compromises will be made.
In our view, the fish wasn't the freshest (indeed, most dishes going around on the train looked a bit "tired"), the portions weren't most generous, and maybe the selection wasn't quite as appealing as it could have been.
The sake? A rip-off. My wife and I love sake, and we had been looking forward to sushi for so long that I ordered the 300ml of junmai daiginjo - $65 (!!!) - and wow, was I disappointed. It's not the price so much as the fact that it was served in a carafe (which was cleverly designed to have an interior "pocket" for ice to keep it cold, so, that was nice), and I'm not convinced it was 300ml, and my wife and I both felt that the sake was actually watered down. That wasn't going to be from the ice-pocket either, I'm just not sure we got what we paid for. We didn't complain, so, it's on us in the end, but I felt the disappointment mounting swiftly for this first experience.
What I will say that's positive is that the iPad ordering system is outstanding. The staff aren't quite sure what position is what though (the iPad has a number on each of the corners, so, it should be easy, but they regularly tried delivering things to the next people over) - but ordering from the iPad gives you the best chance of fresher sushi. It'll cost you though; I don't think I saw anything for less than 4.00, and things went up from there -- so the fixed-plates may only be $3.30, but perhaps the stuff you really want will cost a fair bit more.
The staff were friendly enough, the venue looked clean and well presented, and even though we didn't try the BBQ area, there were quite a few people smiling and enjoying their meals as we walked through to the sushi train. (The layout is a bit awkward. Long and narrow restaurant, so you have to walk through the BBQ area to get to the back of the restaurant where the Sushi Train is)
Overall, we were both quite disappointed with our visit. As we left we tried our best to find positive things to say, I think so that the other wouldn't feel like we wasted our night out, but, by the time we got home we fully acknowledged that it wasn't great, wasn't satisfying and wasn't somewhere we wanted to go back. I realise they're new, and things may improve as they get a bit more into the swing of things, but, for now, this was definitely a miss. read more